Of Memories and Dreams
by Mechtilde
Summary: Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things.


_"Memory is a child walking along a seashore. You never can tell what small pebble it will pick up and store away among its treasured things." _

_-Pierce Harris, Atlanta Journal_

The Selkie girl sat on the ground nearest the crystal, sporting a dreamy expression.

There was something about the look of it that always caught her eye; whether it was the way that it glowed or the shape, she didn't know, but she'd often find herself staring at it for hours.

Maybe it was just hereditary. As the daughter of an Alchemist, it would be good to be so analytical, she thought. It didn't really matter in the end. She'd been waiting for this moment since she was a child. Today, she was leaving with the caravan. She was going to get a chance to protect something that she loved dearly, and she couldn't be happier. However, her joy was overshadowed by a deep fear. Should she screw up in any way, there might not be enough myrrh to keep the crystal going, and it might...

It might go out. Everyone would die, but it wasn't as if that was important. It might go out. The crystal. Might go out. What would she have to look at then? Not that it'd matter, with her being dead and all, but...

The Selkie girl sat on the ground nearest the crystal, sporting a sullen expression.

---

Upon noticing her pensive expression, the Yuke, slightly worried, as he'd seldom seen her frown, decided to take this as a chance to approach her.

"Lala?"

"...Oh, hey, Milly." They referred to each other using nicknames no one else was allowed to. A symbol of their long-lasting friendship.

"D-Did something happen?"

One was the daughter of the town Alchemist, the other the son of the town Blacksmith. Because of their trades, the two families quickly bonded, and as such, their children did as well.

Ji Rah and Hereward spoke idly of weapons and scrolls and whatever else they thought of on slow days.

Lin Mihr and Alfhild were the town gossips, giggling over secrets that no one else knew.

Things were like this since they were children. They ate together and slept together for as long as their parents would permit it, and they were joining the caravan together. They were going to see the world together-- this world that they'd only heard about in books-- and instead of talking about what they'd read, they'd talk about their opinions on what they'd seen. Then they'd tell everyone back home.

"...I'm fine." Her hesitation in answering tipped him off to her lie quickly. She was always like that. Both of them were. Constantly hiding things from one another for the other's sake was a staple of their relationship. If it was anything important, she'd tell him eventually. He smiled underneath his helmet and lifted a feathered hand to ruffle her hair. She fell backwards, head just barely missing his right foot.

"Hee~y." Even though she was frowning, her tone was playful.

"Who else is coming with us?"

"Uh. A Lilty and a Clavat. I don't know 'em, though..."

He chuckled. "You wouldn't."

"So cruel, Sir Miltiades!"

"The concept of my cruelty is outside the boundaries of my conjecture, Miss Lal Ser- ahahaha!" Miltiades spoke in an exaggerated tone, doing his best to sound like some kind of noble. Unable to hold it, he burst into laughter, and Lal Sera followed suit quickly.

----

She couldn't say that she'd been waiting for this moment, but her excitement was almost too much for her to hold in, like hot tea in a teapot. She'd eaten a good, hearty breakfast and she'd made sure to go to the bathroom beforehand--- no way of her having any kind of accident and everyone making fun of her.

Today, she was going to join the crystal caravan. She was going to go out in the wild and risk her life for the village she'd grown up in. The same village her parents had grown up in, and their parents before them. According to her father, her family was a group of nomadic farmers before they came here. This wasn't just nice land; it was a home that they could call their own.

Sherry hardly felt that way. She'd been wanting to leave for the longest time. It wasn't that she hated Tipa. Far from that case, in fact; she loved the town as much as her family did. However, she also wanted to go to the other places that she'd read so much about in her books.

She wanted to fight monsters on the River Belle Path. She wanted to brave the heat of Mount Kilanda. She wanted to be recognized as a hero.

So, soon after finishing her bannock bread (somehow, she'd ended up eating a whole loaf), the Lilty girl said her goodbyes and headed towards the town center, where she found two others-- a Selkie and a Yuke, waiting. She smiled energetically and waved at the taller two.

----

_Goddamn_, he didn't feel like getting up. He didn't want to go with the stupid caravan He didn't want to risk his life for this stupid village. He didn't feel like doing anything, but his parents, of course, had other plans.

"Ashley! You're late, get up!"

He pulled his pillow even tighter around his head. If he was lucky, he'd pass out from the lack of oxygen. Going with the Tipa caravan was a tradition for the women in his family; his mother had done it, and her mother, and her mother before her. He often asked his mother why he had to go.

She never gave him an answer, and he assumed that it was because she thought it was obvious.

That woman really was full enough of herself to think something like that, but in this case, it really was that easy.

They had no girls and he was their oldest child.

Why did he have to be cursed with such rotten luck? He could care less if his mother was disappointed-- he wasn't going out there and getting himself killed for a stupid crystal.

Yes, it was the only thing keeping the miasma out, but he decided long ago that he'd rather be poisoned by something natural than get killed. His mother, giving up on wakeup calls, decided to drag him out of bed.

First thing he really felt that morning: falling down the house's stairs. He's certain she threw a few rolls of leather at him too. Anything that she could get ahold of, she tried tossing at him.

"Dammit, woman, I'm up! I get it!"

"Don't you swear at me! Who the hell do you think I am? Do you think I spent all that time sqeezing you out just to get treated like this?"

Yelling contests between Ashley and Fiorella were terribly commonplace. The rest of the family had learned to ignore them long ago.

After the third or so string of curses, but before she began to throw things at him again, Ashley scrambled out the door, nearly forgetting his equipment. He was, of course, the last one to make it there: he saw a Lilty, a Selkie, and a Yuke all conversing cheerfully in the village square as Roland shuffled in at his usual old man pace.

How could they possibly be so cheerful about being sent out to die? He didn't get it.

The only Clavat in the group rubbed his temple and groaned.


End file.
